Yes it’s true I gave up Bacon…. And grilled cheese.
I was having digestive problems and read an article about how meat takes long to digest and that our digestive track is wrong for being a carnivore, that if we were meant to eat meat we would have a digestive track similar to a tiger or lion.

I also did a ton of research before taking the plunge. I read this amazing book by Russell Simons called “The Happy Vegan” and this changed my life. Completely. I started to crave more knowledge of how my daily choices impacted the world around me. How my eating habits affected my illness, how it effected the carbon foot print I left on this planet, how …;. Blah ,blah, blah ( the things I wanted to know about just went on and on for miles).

In my teens there was a time right after graduation that I adopted a vegetarian lifestyle and I was happy, but one can only eat so many salads before they reach for the first carbon life form they can get their hands on. ( knowledge is power in that if I had the knowledge of how to be a better veggie head I wouldn’t have gotten so board only year in )

Fast forward to the present and I was starting to feel so sick and tired of having IBS-D and not having any relief in sight.
I hated the pain I was in , I hate that my energy never seemed to last, I hated the weight I had gained over the course of 9 years of suffering at the hands of an illness that was relentless, but most of all I hated that what I chose as food came at the expense of another sentient life form.
I started to watch documentaries on the meat industry and the fur industry and how much suffering these defenseless animals would go through and I just couldn’t take another bite of anything that ever had a face.

I also started to understand just how much suffering Dairy Cows went through to product those grilled cheese sandwiches I loved so much and so I re read A Happy Vegan and a journey was born.

I started out making excuses…. money is too tight, I’ll be the only one not eating meat, but the holidays will suck, meal time is gonna be so boring, food is going to be so bland, what if this what if that, but, but, but ….. Than I re-watched the documentary “The Cove” and even though I do not eat, nor have I even had the desire to try, dolphin meat, I just knew that this would be the last day I ate the way I had been, that I would need to adjust my way of life if I was to ever be able to look at myself with pride again…. This is not to say that if you choose a life style where meat is in your diet that you should not hold your head up high, I could never be that judgmental of another living being…. It is just that for me personally I couldn’t find it in myself to be responsible for another being’s death. Did you know that as a vegan I save 200 animal’s lives a year just by not consuming animal products at meal times (just a drop in the bucket of mother earth, true … but it’s my impact, and I am so proud to be able to say that)?

So I set out to prove all of my apprehensions wrong.
I started with the cost of being a vegan , and blew that out of the water when I managed to eat a HEALTHY amount of food each meal on essentially $2.00 per meal.
I proved to myself that eating this way wouldn’t be boring by choosing fruits and veggies I hadn’t tried before and by seeking out plant-based proteins that would challenge my culinary skills. What I found was that I was excited to get into the kitchen and put together a meal … it was thrilling to take that first bite and know I MADE THAT and it was TASTY!!

Now back to the “Sort of “ issue. When you adopt a new way of living sometimes you have speed bumps that cause you to skid and crash and well … you get the drift. I had a really bad Fibro flair and wanted comfort foods …. Sad to say that yes, I did in fact break and have non vegan foods.

I look at the way someone looks at addictions (food can be an addiction too , for me it’s Italian hoagies , grilled cheese, bacon, and milk shakes) Everyday you have to get up and choose your path. It will get easier , but that doesn’t mean, unless born into the vegan movement, that one will ever really not miss a favorite comfort food, that is until you learn how to make said food meatless.

I went completely cold turkey ( no pun intended ) and that has never worked for me in the past. Anytime I have completely restricted myself I have always, ALWAYS , gone off the wagon.

So as I travel the path that leads me back to a movement that for me is everything in the world to me. I have started with things I put on my body. I weeded through my makeup ( which damn near killed me ) to remove any and all products that were not cruelty free.

Next I turned to my wardrobe. I removed all leather and animal skin clothing and shoes ( not that big of a deal to me … most of my budget goes to the makeup gods) and chose to also rid myself of animal by products such as silk from my clothing.
I gave up skin care products that were not cruelty free and also what I wash my clothing in as well.

This for me was and still remains the most costly part of my journey and even though I know I am not 100% Vegan just yet, I am getting there…. ( well I cant run around the world naked I’d scare small children …. Wink wink)

I have now trained my sights on what I consume. It’s harder to do this living in a home with 4 other carnivores… in the sense that the freezer is always well stocked so there is no room for my foods and just like with any other addiction ( please don’t go getting mad at me for calling it that, to me it is an addiction, meats have always been a huge part of my diet and I am re training myself to be meat free… it’s hard for me and so I find it to be an addiction.) when the thing you crave is within reaching distance it’s hard to not want it. Thank goodness for such an amazing husband and an amazing best friend. They both support me and try to keep my eyes on the prize. My bestie even made sure there were vegan friendly options for me in the pantry …. And so as I take another step down the road that leads me to my better self, I had started to weed more and more out. I start 1 bite at a time. Choose a fruit instead of Doritos (although I have grown to really love the Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos even more than I ever loved cool ranch) I choose a nice salad over a sandwich… 1 meal at a time. Until I am able to look at my life and realize wow…. I’ve made my destination… and it’s filled with fury creatures I have saved.

of course my journey is always surrounded by water in one aspect or another.

Well thanks for stopping by. As always thanks for taking a peak into this spoonie’s makeup bag and until next time spoonie darlings, remember save a spoon for a little lip gloss.